United we can fight climate change!

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Over the past few months, young people across Europe have been marching on our streets to raise their concerned voices against the biggest threat mankind has ever faced. We want to bring your/their voice to the European Parliament. Politicians should not ignore, but listen to the Thousands of people fighting for climate protection in the streets.

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European Defence Fund

Early this morning, an agreement was reached in trilogue negotiations on the European Defence Fund. The seven year, €13 billion fund will allow for spending on weapons of mass destruction, white phosphorus or depleted uranium ammunition without any Parliamentary scrutiny.

Four members of the European Parliament: Michèle Rivasi (France), Tilly Metz (Luxembourg), Molly Scott Cato (United Kingdom) and Thomas Waitz (Austria) and a group of activists of “Agir pour la Paix” entered a Belgian air base Kleine Brogel. They came in holding banners “Nuclear free zone for Europe” and symbolically blocked runway of the F-16 airbase to request the withdrawal of US nuclear bombs on European soil.

To improve democracy and the rights of citizens in Europe, the Greens/EFA decided to strengthen the European Ombuds(wo)man’s office so that it could better investigate maladministration and conflicts of interest. We also managed to secure a role for the Ombuds(wo)man’s Office in important areas such as whistleblower protection and sexual harassment.

CO2 emissions

Trucks and heavy goods vehicles will have to reduce their CO2 emissions by 15% by 2025, and by 30% by 2030, compared with 2019 levels. Thanks to the pressure of the European Parliament, the targets for 2030 are now legally binding. In 2022, the Commission will also have to propose post-2030 targets in line with the Paris Agreement.

Press release from EFA MEP Jill Evans (Plaid Cymru)

Member of the European Parliament for Wales, Jill Evans, has joined calls with a cross-party group of MEPs in a letter to Prime Minister Theresa May asking her to urgently bring forward a proposal to replace the funding provided for Wales by the EU.
Wales currently benefits from billions of pound...

Plenary week, 11-15 February 2019

Greens/EFA priorities for the plenary week included the EU-Singapore trade agreement, the protection of animals during transportation, the EU-Morocco fisheries agreement, the debate on the Future of Europe with the Italian Prime Minister, the final trilogues on copyright and on the gas directive, ...

CAP reform

Today, the Environment Committee (ENVI) of the European Parliament voted on the reform of the Common Agriculture Policy. MEPs favour a much greener CAP reform than proposed by the European Commission, says ENVI committee member Bas Eickhout, leading candidate of the European Greens for the European elections:

European Labour Authority

Negotiations on the European Labour Authority have just been concluded with stronger protections for cross-border workers. The European Labour Agency will strengthen the functioning of the Internal Market and will help better detect mailbox companies, bogus self-employment and other fraudulent business models across all EU Member States and mediate between national authorities in labour disputes. It will also cooperate with trade unions and social partners in EU Member States. The Greens/EFA group have long argued for a more social Europe that protects workers' rights.

Copyright

"This deal is a threat to small publishers, authors and internet users alike and risks putting the internet as we know it solely in the hands of the tech and media giants. Upload filters do not work as algorithms simply cannot tell the difference between copyright infringements and legal parodies. Even the most sophisticated upload filters routinely block perfectly legal content."
Julia Reda, Greens/EFA Vice President and shadow rapporteur on the Copyright Directive

Press release from EFA MEPs J-M Terricabras & Jordi Solé

EFA MEPs from Catalonia have spoken out in the European Parliament this week as the trial gets underway in Madrid of the Catalan political prisoners - government ministers, civil society leaders and former Speaker of the Catalan parliament - for seeking to assert Catalonia's right to self-determ...

The energy sector in particular should be leading the decarbonisation effort given the availability of technological solutions so that Europe moves towards a highly efficient, 100% renewable energy system. What could be the role of gas in this 2050 perspective? While natural fossil fuel gas should be phased-out, other gases emerge and are presented as renewable alternatives. What are their potential, properties, costs and benefits? Are they compatible with a net-zero carbon emission society by 2050?

The event will shed light on the CAP, its interrelations with the treaties of the EU, and how we can tackle the issue of factory farming. It is organised in three different panels: the first one on the implications of factory farming, and how the lack of a legal definition is hindering the design of a CAP that works in accordance with other EU policies and goals; the second panel focuses on the CAP reform, and the way it interacts with the treaties. The third one will be a roundtable discussion and as a conclusion a round of questions and answers from the audience.

Enough with trade policies that demand too much of our planet, hurt the world's most vulnerable, put profit before people.
It's time to fix globalisation for the better! A sustainable model that delivers for all is possible

Greens/EFA priorities

Impact of money laundering on housing prices across the EU

Tax evasion and money laundering through real estate can contribute to the increase of rental and housing prices in your city.
We Greens/EFA are fighting hard in the European Parliament against money laundering - not least, because everyone in Europe should have the right to affordable housing!

Join the Campaign to Protect the Truth

People who expose the truth nowadays are harassed, demoted, fired, or sued by employers who are desperate to silence them. Also known as "whistleblowers", these people speak up to defend our rights. The European Union is on the verge of adopting a new law that would protect people who tell the truth. Join our campaign and put pressure on your government - because the #TruthNeedsFriends.

What care ethics can bring to the conversation

Today, the European Parliament backed four objections against the authorisation for import of new GM plants into the EU, bringing the total number of such objections to 31 in just over three years. Nevertheless, the European Commission decided to override this opposition and to authorize 24 of them. Why and how did we end up in this political stand-off? And, more importantly, how do we get out of this situation? A team of researchers may have opened a path with the publication of several studies on the Politics of Care and how it could be used to assess emerging technologies.

New Whistleblower Directive

The European Union is on the verge of enacting new legislation that would change the lives of people who reveal the truth about illegalities, corrupt practices and other dodgy dealings - otherwise known as “whistleblowers”.

A report commissioned by the Greens/EFA

A new research commissioned by the Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament shows that many companies do not pay much tax in many EU countries – in absolute values or in comparison to nominal rates or to some other countries.

Plenary week, 14-17 January 2019

GREENS/EFA priorities for the plenary week included the special committee on pesticides, glyphosate, gender equality and taxation policies, Brexit, the Romanian presidency, nuclear decommissioning, rights and values, …

Read our paper 'Green trade for all'

Trade policy requires a rapid and radical rethink. Globalisation currently demands twice the resources that the planet can provide. We need a systematic transformation to ensure maximum human well-being with the minimum use of resources. Read our ideas and steps we can take right now, in our 'Green Trade for All' paper.

COP 24 - Bas Eickhout asks for more ambitious on climate policy!

Polish students in school strike for climate

Plenary week, 10-14 December 2018

Greens/EFA priorities for the Strasbourg Plenary week included humanitarian visas, conflict of interest of Czech Prime Minister, transparency and sustainability of the EU risk assessment in the food chain, the digital service tax, the revocability of Art 50 ...

The case of Czech Republic

No climate justice without gender justice!

Climate change is one of the most urgent global challenges. We are also aware that climate change is a deeply unjust phenomenon: those who contribute the least to climate change are often the ones that are most affected by its impacts. All aspects of climate change have a gender dimension: the causes, the impacts, as well as the policies to respond to climate change which can have different effects on women and men.

COP 24 in Katowice

How a group of industries with problematic products are trying to weaken the precautionary principle

Few words carry a more positive image than “innovation”: solving humanities’ problems, bringing comfort, relief and fun. So why the hell are the Greens/EFA in the European Parliament opposing the introduction of the so-called “innovation principle” in the Horizon Europe Regulation, which will be setting the terms for the next 160 billion euro EU research funding programme? Because this is in reality an industry stunt to hinder the precautionary principle, and the EU citizens' safety. Here is how.

This report compares the costs of corruption to public investment in education, healthcare, childcare and housing, elderly care, or policing and fire services. The aim is to raise public awareness about the cost of corruption across the EU and to call for a substantial increase in the fight against corruption by the European Union institutions.

No more dirty secrets in the authorisation procedure for pesticides, GMOs, food additives and novel food!

Democracy and science have in common the fact that they cannot be properly carried out in the dark: both require transparency. The altercation around the reauthorisation of the herbicide glyphosate in 2017 shed an uncomfortable light on the opacity of both the assessment process and the authorisation process of pesticides in the EU. The Commission's imperfect attempt to make the situation better will be debated and voted on next week in the European Parliament, under strong industry lobby pressure.

Media freedom and democracy in Hungary

During the past weeks, we have seen important breaches of democracy in Hungary: a convicted thief, the former prime minister of Macedonia was granted asylum, the Central European University was shut down and will have to move to Vienna, and government mouthpiece media came under the control of one foundation, headed by an ally of Viktor Orbán.
The Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament call on the Council to react to protect democracy and freedom of speech before the situation deteriorates further.

UN climate talks in Katowice

This December government leaders will gather in Katowice, Poland for the COP24 climate summit, where all countries of the world, including EU Member States, must commit to put forward higher 2030 climate targets by 2020. To stay below 1.5°C, as indicated in the landmark IPCC report, the EU needs to commit to significantly increase both its long-term and 2030 targets.

Can a business be socially and environmentally responsible while being economically profitable? Into the Spoon is a perfect example of how this can be achieved. Watch this video and get to know some of the people who are making the just and Green transition happen!

Bring change!

Boentje café

The European Parliament took a clear position in favour of strong whistleblower protection, making several essential improvements to the European Commission’s draft legal proposal presented earlier this year. The report, supported by an overwhelming majority in the legal affairs committee, will be the Parliament’s negotiating position

Towards a UN binding treaty on business and human rights

Globalisation heavily relies on the exploitation of workers in developing countries by Transnational Corporations. However, when these workers' human rights are abused, it is basically impossible for them to achieve proper redress. International pushes for the creation of a UN binding treaty on business and human rights seek to redress this profoundly unequal dynamic and end corporate impunity.

We tested people's hair and the majority of participants from 6 EU countries had pesticides in it! Share to tell the EU that pesticides don't belong in our bodies and we need to be stricter on pesticide rules!

Pesticides are ubiquitous in our environment and food

The Greens/EFA set up a campaign to measure human exposure for a selection of 30 pesticides, reported as endocrine disruptors, among the EU population. The analyses detects toxic pesticides such as fipronil but also chlorpyrifos. Read more